Archive for November 2nd, 2018

On this day in 1948, Harry S. Truman defeated Thomas E. Dewey for the U.S. presidency. The Chicago Tribune published an early edition that had the headline "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN." The Truman victory surprised many polls and newspapers.

On this day in 1945, Howard Hughes flew his "Spruce Goose," a huge wooden airplane, for eight minutes in California. It was the plane’s first and only flight and never went into production.

Take-off: Howard Hughes’ H-4, the "Spruce Goose."

Hughes watches engineer Chal Bowen, October 31, 1947, two days before the flight as the radio operator looks on. Thirty-six people were on board for the test flight.

Flight-deck seats, put in for military observers, seven guests from the press corps and an additional seven industry representatives.

On this day in 1959, Charles Van Doren, a game show contestant on the NBC-TV program "Twenty-One" admitted that he had beengiven questions and answers in advance.

Van Doren (at left) faces Herb Stempel (far right) on “Twenty-One,” in 1956, under the eye of the show’s host, Jack Barry. Some fifty million people watched the climax of their rivalry.